The present invention concerns a toothbrush and a process for producing a toothbrush.
Toothbrushes usually have a brush head with a bristle area formed by tufts of bristles. Such toothbrushes have long been known. Over the course of time, the bristle areas of such toothbrushes have undergone varied designs and further developments to improve on the one hand the cleaning effect and on the other hand the comfort or convenience for the user. One of these developments concerns the use of profiled bristle areas and tufts of bristles with bristles standing up to different heights in the tuft of bristles.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,897 discloses a toothbrush with a bristle area consisting of tufts of bristles. This bristle area is of a profiled configuration and the individual tufts of bristles have a number of bristles standing up higher, which form a higher end area.
The document DE 198 32 436 describes a process for producing brushes, in particular toothbrushes. The process shows the working of tufts of bristles with bristles of different lengths, the working of the bristles being carried out in various steps by means of lateral deflection.
US Design 425,306 shows an ornamental bristle area with substantially triangular tufts of bristles, at the corners of which higher bristles are arranged.
The document EP 1 425 989 discloses toothbrushes with pointed bristles and a process for producing the same. The bristles may in this case have two identical pointed ends or different ends, that is to say a non-pointed end and a pointed end.
The document WO 2009/000903 describes a toothbrush with tufts of bristles which have on the one hand shorter, non-pointed bristles and on the other hand longer, pointed bristles. The longer bristles may be randomly distributed in the tuft of bristles or arranged centrally in an inner region of the tuft of bristles.
Various efforts aimed at providing toothbrushes which comprise a bristle area that has bristles with bristle ends standing up to different heights in a tuft of bristles are known from the prior art. However, the corresponding processes are complex or only allow a restricted design of the bristle area.